


The Burned Bandit

by Lavanya_Six



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 18:44:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6531613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavanya_Six/pseuds/Lavanya_Six
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Toph is Zuko's sister, while Azula is born a Bei Fong in the Earth Kingdom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Burned Bandit

**0.**

Toph, according to mythology, was the name of the mythical killer of Shu, lover of Oma. In certain renditions of the story, after founding her great city, Oma exiled Toph across the western sea to the Fire Nation.

Azula is the feminine form of Azulon, the celestial Azure Dragon of the East, one of the Four Great Constellations. It is also the name of the leader of the Earth Kingdom's mortal enemy and, consequently, a distinctly unpopular name outside the Fire Nation in recent generations — unless you were open to collaboration.

. . .

**1.**

You couldn't mix blood without consequences, General Iroh knew. If some colonial landlord wanted to bed a indigenous sharecropper, that was one thing, but blending the lines of Sozin and Roku? Madness. Nevertheless Father does just that, arranging a marriage between his brother and the traitor Avatar's spawn in a bid to breed a superior firebender. If anyone was surprised when the children that hadn't miscarried were born cripples, they were lying. One such child could be an unhappy coincidence, but two was a clear pattern of disfavor from the spirits of their ancestors.

Tiny Zuko, born prematurely, straining for each breath past his sixth birthday, lungs wracked with all manner of allergies and asthma. And poor Toph...

It was fortunate she had born into wealth. A blind child was a burden for any family, but a blind firebender was _dangerous_. They couldn't see their flames spread, didn't know when they had to rein them in. It was a shame; if she had been a boy, the Fire Sages could have taken Toph into their esteemed ranks. Their oral histories and fables were perfectly suited for memorization by a perpetual illiterate. As it was, Iroh's niece was destined for a life as a courtier, trading in gossip. A shallow destiny for one with royal blood, however clotted it might be in her veins.

. . .

**2.**

The perfect daughter.

Seen but not heard. Every move carefully calculated and performed without hesitation. Garbed in the latest fashions imported from Ba Sing Se. Expression fixed in a pleasant guise that revealed nothing at all. Demure. Obident. Each step an expression of utter grace. Hands supple. Skin milky white from lack of sun. Were a single stray black hair to fall across her forehead, it would seem an obscene affront to her artful presentation.

The blind badgermoles knew an entirely alien creature.

. . .

**3.**

The brush laid down slick, black curves. Faint curls of steam rose off the ink. It had been heated, just like everything else his daughter needed to see. When Toph was finished, she proudly held up the drawing for him to inspect. Despite coming from a brush held by a small child's chubby hand, it wasn't a bad portrait of Ozai, especially coming from a girl whose golden irises were covered in a milky film.

"It's very good," Ozai told her.

His daughter smiled freely; they'd have to work on that.

. . .

**4.**

The Earth Rumble was a barbaric sport, really, but altogether glorious. When one scored points at a society function, it was an achievement that went unvoiced. Here... the roar of the crowd shook her like thunder. It combined the visceral thrill of thrashing people in dark alleys with the triumph of performance. Winning the fights was never in doubt. Winning the crowd was another matter. She needed a symbol, something for the unwashed masses to latch onto. Wear a mask and people would naturally wonder what was underneath it. So you needed to give them something else to look at.

Azula really didn't know what the little people thought about things, but she did understand the way people on the street talked about the war. It was something everyone knew, even her parents, although they tried to shield her from that reality. Mother gladly fostered her newfound interest in make-up and the theater, so eagerly in fact that even the paranoid would be hard pressed to notice how Azula had tucked away a jar of concealer there and a pot of blush there. The hardest part was getting the textures to look like authentic scar tissue, but she managed with enough experimentation.

The Burned Bandit, they called her.

. . .

**5.**

Every aspect of Princess Toph's life was infused with heavenly Fire. She saw blood circulating beneath people's skin, identifying how each person's face uniquely lit up with heat. And what other blind girl could read characters by how their black ink absorbed more heat than the blank parchment around them, or paint so beautifully even if the brush was slick with near-boiling ink?

(Too bad she's an apathetic dullard who coasts along on her title. Say what you will about her elder brother's incompetency, but at least Prince Zuko gave full effort to his studies and royal duties. The princess was just a thug. And it's _fucking creepy_ how she could tell if you were lying, just had sex, hadn't eaten lunch, were pregnant, or, as Admiral Rao discovered from an off-hand comment delivered by the princess during a war meeting, riddled with malignant tumors.)

Only those among the court elite, privileged with personal contact with the royal family, could appreciate their princess so.

. . .

**6.**

Azula flung a boulder at her challenger, one of the little idiots who attended Master Yu's academy, and couldn't contain her shock when he changed course mid-air to avoid the inbound attack. Even the arena crowd fell silent at the sight of airbending.

Later, after the riotous cheering had subsided and Azula had strapped on her champion's belt, the Avatar took her aside. "I need an earthbending teacher, and I think it's supposed to be you."

The Fire Nation had to be hunting him. They'd probably only sent the best of the best after him. "Will it be dangerous?"

Brow furrowed, he sighed mournfully. "Yeah. It will be, but—"

"I'm in."

. . .

**7.**

A wave of chain-lightning blasted away the northeast portion of the ghost town, forcing Uncle Snoozels, Zuzu, and the Avatar's little gang to all take cover.

"Okay," Princess Toph declared, her own thunder echoing in her ears as she rose off the ground on a pillar of flame. "Fuck this noise! No more going easy on the enemies and traitors and little bald monks! I'm taking you all on RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! SO **BRING! IT! ON!** "

The boy crouching between the Avatar and his little waterbender girltoy asked, "Wait. She's been going _easy_ on us?"

Toph laughed and said, "You bet your a—"

A sliver of rock — stone from underground, cold, impossible for her to see — glanced across Toph's cheek just below her useless left eye, slicing the skin open. Hot blood wept from the wound. The princess dropped to the ground in shock, clutching her face with trembling fingertips. Wheeling about, she spotted the telltale heat of a living body in the middle of the road.

"Please allow me to introduce myself," purred the newcomer. "I'm a woman of wealth and taste."


End file.
